In a Moment
by TL-chan
Summary: AU. Aqune begins to contemplate her feelings for Hunter, but a certain incident leaves crisis for the both of them. BugueseAqune, HunterCorona
1. Sudden Feelings

AN: Somehow, I managed to mix both the English and Japanese versions. After a while, it all blends together I suppose. Also, I've already completed the fic, so no waiting. Kind of a habit of mine, because I feel if I start to post unfinished works, I won't have the motivation to complete them. Takes place before the Numa voyage arc, though it's AU anyway, so I suppose that doesn't matter too much.

Chapter 1: Sudden Feelings

While it unintentionally led to the emotional suffering of several others, there was a burning feeling that Aqune simply couldn't shake off. It concerned the human boy Hunter Steele. Despite being one herself, Aqune wasn't too fond of humans. They had hurt her in the past, or at least as much of it as she could remember. Along with that were the things that Buguese had told her. She was never certain whether she should trust the Insector man, but then again, she really had no reason for this uncertainty. He was her mentor and despite his cold attitude, he obviously cared about her. He hated the humans though, especially the Spider Riders, especially Hunter. He too had been wronged by them.

This wasn't about Buguese though. It was about Hunter. Sure, he was a human, but something about him just seemed a bit… different. It was this boy who cared about her and fought to protect her from the Insectors. Whether or not she wanted or needed this was questionable. Aqune herself didn't know. Even still, Hunter was there. He was often on her mind. Just maybe, Aqune had feelings for him. It was during the most recent battle against the Spider Riders when this thought really became apparent to her. Aqune has possession of one of the Oracle Keys, which she had been told were very important. However, she returned it to Hunter. Now the Spider Riders were in possession of two while the Insectors had only one.

Aqune knew that Buguese was angered by this. Indeed, she felt some regret for the decision; But some was not enough. She was happy that the Spider Riders had the key, even though they were her enemies. Yes, she felt maybe this could be because she loved Hunter, but maybe not. She wasn't even sure what love felt like.

It was early morning, a gloomy, cloudy day in Arachna. That didn't affect much in the Insectors world, seeing how there, darkness was an everyday occurrence. It affected Aqune to an even lesser extent. Like any ordinary day, she spent her time kneeling in front of the Oacle shrine, chanting. She didn't even notice the figure standing behind her. It was Buguese, watching her. He wore an expression of great disdain, not for Aqune, but for the Oracle. Soon, he could no longer remain silent.

"Aqune…" he called in his usual cold tone. He clearly had something that he needed to be accomplished and would need Aqune to help him accomplish. Aqune turned around. She was used to this, but it still took her by surprise at times.

"Yes?" she replied.

"It's time to go," he responded. "I suspect that the Spider Riders will soon be traveling to Numa. The journey is very long and dangerous. Mantid-sama believes that it would be best if we crush them before hand, as it would be a lot less difficult for us."

"Yes," said Aqune, nodding. She followed Buguese to their destination, neither of them speaking to the other.

"Retrieve for me the Oracle Keys," instructed Buguese.

"Right… master!" Aqune answered. She wasn't even wearing her mask at the time, but her mind was too uncertain to think clearly, to consider questioning Buguese. She went ahead, not sure what she would be getting into, not sure how she felt, not sure how she would face Hunter. It would be an inevitable occurrence though, that Aqune was certain of.

The Riders, Aqune saw, were very unsuspecting. It was obvious that they had other things on their mind than fighting the Insectors and protecting the Oracle Keys at the time. Arachna had suffered from the previous battle. Many of the guards and soldiers had been injured, so they were being taken care of. This in turn meant that the security was weak. It didn't take much effort for her to get in because of that. She saw within the walls of Arachna, the boy who had been on her mind, the Earthen Spider Rider Hunter. But he wasn't alone. Beside him was another, the female Spider Rider Corona. The two seemed to be moving closer together. Hunter pulled in his face closer still and kissed her.


	2. The Fateful Battle

Chapter 2- The Fateful Battle

"Buguese… was right," said Aqune. "The humans… they are our enemy. I didn't want to be hurt by them ever again!"

Buguese headed toward her. Aqune noticed an unhidable expression of annoyance on his face, but also a bit of concern.

"Mantid-sama only gave us so much time," said Buguese. He placed his hand on Aqune's shoulder, who didn't resist. He then adorned her with her mask and motioned for her to move on with him. "Now go, kill them!"

Soon enough, they were spotted. Everything was going according to plan.

"It's the Insectors!" announced Igneous, trying to gather the Spider Riders for battle. Hunter may have been with Corona earlier, but that was earlier. When he saw a chance to battle as a Spider Rider and protect the people of Arachna, he was always ready to transform and fight.

"Oracle power!" he called, transforming. Corona, Igneous and Lumen each chanted their respective transformation words.

"Spider out!" they all yelled in unison as their arachnid partners appeared before them.

"Buguese, you're never going to learn, are you?" Hunter asked teasingly.

"Hunter Steele, soon you will regret taking the Oracle Keys from us. However, much as I'd love to be the one to crush you, I'll allow someone else to do that for me today!" He smiled evilly, watching as Aqune lashed out at Hunter as if on queue.

"It's you again!" shouted Hunter. "Aqune, we don't have to fight like this!"

Of course, Aqune didn't listen and continued attacking.

"I guess we'll have to get rid of your mask again," Hunter declared.

"Already on it!" replied Corona, smiling. An arrow flew at Aqune, but she hit it away with her lance.

"How troublesome," said Lumen. "I think we should get this over with. Plus, I suppose she is a cute girl. Ebony!"

Before Aqune could make a move to defend herself, she felt webs wrap around her face. The next thing she knew, her mask had been sliced into several pieces that lay on the floor.

"Way to go Lumen!" Hunter exclaimed.

"Thank you," Lumen responded, though he didn't sound very modest about it.

"Aqune, are you alright?" asked Hunter.

Aqune wasn't sure. She felt the usual shock that came when she was freed from the mask's influence, but she was aware of the situation before her. She had fought against the Spider Riders and lost once again. Before her now was Hunter Steele, showing concern for her once again. He had hurt her earlier, but not on purpose. Still, she cared about him and he had hurt her.

"Um… Aqune…" Hunter questioned.

"No, I'm not okay! I hate the humans!" Aqune snapped. She looked at Buguese for direction, a solution. She couldn't find any simply by reading his face. Buguese seemed slightly amused, but perhaps a bit frustrated as well. Mostly though, he looked surprised.

"Buguese…" Aqune began. "What are your orders?"

"We cam here to retrieve the Oracle Keys and finish off the Spider Riders," replied Buguese. "If you will not do it then I will."

"No," Aqune replied. "I will fight them." Aqune proceeded to attack them. First in her line of attack was Hunter, which contented her at the moment. Ultimately, she still didn't want to hurt Hunter, but at the time, she felt it was what had to be done.

"Aqune, listen! We got rid of your mask." Called Corona, hoping to stop her from attacking Hunter, whom she too cared deeply for. Without saying a word, Aqune diverted her aggression toward Corona. Them something happened.

Both were fighting hard, Aqune as the aggressor and Corona on the defense. Both felt the power of the Oracle very strongly. She was suffering, they could tell more than anyone. Hunter couldn't stand to watch them fight. He ran in, weapon in hand, to stop them. Aqune and Corona felt the Oracle's presence stronger still. She was telling them to stop. The timing was all wrong. Once again, it wasn't intentional and it wasn't near as badly as the previous time, but once again, Hunter had hurt Aqune. He slashed her in the side with his weapon. Aside from the immediate shock, Aqune's wound didn't hurt much immediately. However, in a retaliation bought upon by reflexes alone, her own weapon struck Corona, impaling her. Blood began to spew.


	3. Wounds

Chapter 3- Wounds

Aqune bent over, holding her side.

"No!" she shouted. "I never wanted to hurt her. I never meant for this to happen. Oh Oracle, please do something!"

"Corona!" yelled Hunter, very much concerned. He and the other Spider Riders gathered around their injured comrade's body. Corona was still conscious, but just barely. That was only because she was a strong warrior.

Aqune backed away, not wanting to interfere, being even more confused over what to do. She backed right into Buguese, who was standing close behind her, closer than Aqune remembered.

"I'm sorry," said Aqune, as if Buguese would've cared. He was probably very pleased with her, even if she did fail at getting the keys.

"Clearly, we've lost this time," Buguese replied in irritation. "Certainly, next time will be different. The Spider Riders have suffered a great loss. Lord Mantid will be pleased that we put them at a disadvantage, so they may not get in Stags' way in Numa."

Aqune wondered why Buguese would be turning back now, rather than pursuing even further while he was ahead, but he did present a fair reason. She couldn't focus her mind on that anymore though. The pain in her side had really kicked in. Just because it wasn't life threatening or anywhere near as bad as Corona's wound, it was obviously there. Cringing from the pain, she struggled to hold herself up. She noticed Hunter out of the corner of her eye. At the moment, he was looking at Corona and only Corona. That was Aqune's last thought before she collapsed.

A small amount of time later, Aqune was fully conscious again. The pain had temporarily resided. Looking at her surroundings, she could immediately tell that she was inside Mantid's fortress. Nothing unusual about that. However, the room she was in wasn't particularly familiar. It wasn't where she normally stayed.

"Where is this?" Aqune questioned, not expecting an answer.

"It's my room," announced Buguese. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes," Aqune replied. "She couldn't help but stare at Buguese. What was he doing? The man before her, so cold and hateful, had been watching over her. Taking care of her? While staring, she took in his features. There was the blue skin, his almost robotic looking arms that were often covered by his cape and of course those antennae on his head. All of those features clearly distinguished him as an Insector. But aside from that, he looked almost human. While many of the other Insecotrs, like Stags and Grasshop were very obviously bugs, Buguese was somehow different. Aqune had never really noticed before. She had just taken his presence for granted, but he looked almost… attractive. She had diverted her gaze quickly, but it had been affixed on him for too long.

"What is it, Aqune?" Buguese asked.

"Its nothing, Master. Thank you," she said. She then got up and headed toward the door. She went back down to the Oracle shrine and kneeled on the floor to contemplate. It was then when she remembered and the realization hit her hard. She had hurt the Spider Rider whom Hunter had kissed earlier.

"What should I do?" Aqune asked. It was a stupid question, because the obvious answer came to her now. She could've used her abilities to heal the girl. She was so uncertain about everything at the time that she had completely forgotten. "Oracle, I must save her before it's too late, but how do I get out of here?" She was then enlightened again. "Buguese! If I'm right, if he does care enough about me, then maybe he'll put his hate for the Spider Riders aside to save the life of that girl. I have no choice but to try." Worriedly, Aqune got up and headed toward Buguese's room.


	4. A Plea

Chapter 4- A Plea

Arachna Kingdom seemed to be in even greater disarray. Along with many still injured from that battle earlier, there now existed the problem with Corona. She was still alive now, but Lily reported to the Spider Riders that her wound had a chance of being fatal. Of course, that also opened up the chance that Corona would recover in time and be just fine. Always optimistic, Hunter was convinced that she'd be just fine. He didn't want to believe anything else.

Even with those sentiments, Hunter was frustrated. He sat beside Corona's bed, contemplating. He remembered back to another time when he was in Corona's room. Back then, Corona had thrown a pillow at him, scolding him for entering a girls room so suddenly. Hunter kind of wished that the same could happen now, just so that he could see that Corona was back to normal. Not because he had the sudden urge to get hit with a pillow.

"Hunter," came the voice of Shadow through the manacle on his wrist. "This wasn't your fault. It was an accident and that's all."

"I already know that!" Hunter yelled. "I just wish there was something I could do. Back in my world, we have places called hospitals that take care of injuries like this. I really love the Inner World, but at times like this, it would best to back in the real world.

Meanwhile, Aqune approached the door. She placed her hand on the knob, but quickly pulled it away. What was she thinking? She couldn't just barge in uninvited. It was more than that though. Aqune was nervous. Just the thought of talking to Buguese bought a strange feeling to her heart. She backed away for a moment before finally deciding to knock on the door. A few seconds later, it opened. It initially surprised Aqune that Buguese simply opened it without questioning who had knocked. It seemed like the opposite of how he would react. Unless, he knew it was her.

Buguese smiled, or at least made a devious, pleased expression that Aqune thought resembled a smile.

"Um… Buguese?" began Aqune.

"Speak, dear," said Buguese.

"Aqune put her hand over her mouth nervously. It's not as if Buguese had never called her things like that before. It just never had any effect on her. She opened her mouth to speak, dropping her hand, but the words didn't come out. In front of her again was Buguese, alluring as ever. Aqune quickly tried to remind herself of all the reasons NOT to like Buguese. He's hateful, self-interested… or is he? Here he was now, standing before _her_,waiting for _her_ to speak. He wanted to know what _she _had to say.

"Please, let me go and heal the Spider Rider I injured earlier!" Aqune said suddenly. She didn't mean to be so direct. Well, she did technically, but it still came out wrong. It was too late to back down now. She'd made her point.

"I see," said Buguese, looking concerned but not quite angry. "Why?" he then added.

"Because I didn't really mean to hurt her," said Aqune.

"Then what was your intention?" questioned Buguese. "If you engage in battle against an opponent, would you want anything other than to defeat them? You are a very powerful warrior Aqune, but in ways you are still naïve. Battle is not fun and games. It is a fight to the death!"

"In some circumstances," said Aqune. "Not now. Not this time." She stared directly into Buguese's eyes. There, she saw the coldness that she knew was always present. "Please," Aqune added.

"Alright," said Buguese. Aqune gasped. "If that's what you believe. We'll see which one of us is right!"


	5. The Healing

Chapter 5- The Healing

Somehow, it had worked, even if it took a challenge to Buguese's ideals to make it happen. They were off again to the kingdom of Arachna. Aqune had expected that Buguese would accompany her, even though this truly didn't concern him. In a way, she was happy to have him around though. She felt more comfortable that way. Before she knew it, her body had moved closer to his.

Some time passed and they had reached the city.

"This is your last chance to back down," Buguese stated.

"I can't!" Aqune replied.

"I didn't think so," said Buguese. "The security still seems to be suffering," he added. "You can easily sneak right in."

Aqune proceeded to do so, It was fairly simple. Now the immediate problem was to find where the Spider Riders were.

"I'll have to rely on the Oracle to guide me," Aqune thought to herself. "Where the Spider Riders live, her presence will be strong. That idea had worked. She found a place that she was quite positive was their home. Before proceeding, Aqune looked around. Finally, she spotted Buguese. He had entered as well. Her mind relaxed a bit. She was ready to proceed.

Wandering around the outside of the structure for a minute, she peered through a window. Now she had no doubts at all. Inside she saw Hunter, but he didn't look quite like his ever-determined self. He seemed almost broken. On the bed beside him lay that girl, looking worse.

Aqune knocked on the window without a second thought.

Hunter got up and approached the window.

"Aqune?" he said, seeming more shocked than anything else.

"Yes, it's me," said Aqune. "I can use my powers to heal that girl."

Hunter faced Aqune sternly for a moment, seemingly a bit angry at her. His expression then turned to gratitude. He opened the window, allowing for Aqune to enter.

Aqune placed her hands over Corona's wound, A light emerged and Corona recovered.

"It's done," she said.

"Thank you," replied Hunter. "Uh… by the way, just how did you get out here?" Hunter questioned.

"I convinced Buguese to let me come," admitted Aqune.

"Wha… but how?!" questioned Hunter, amazed by this.

"Buguese… maybe he isn't exactly like I thought he was," replied Aqune. "I have to go now! He's waiting for me." Smiling at Hunter one last time, she left. There went her biggest chance to be with Hunter. Still, she was satisfied that she had saved the girl whom he loved.

Aqune found Buguese again, but this still took some effort. He had to have stayed cleverly hidden though, seeing how he had snuck into an enemy kingdom. The two left Arachna's boundaries, not speaking a word.

"So how did it go?" Buguese questioned soon after. Aqune looked at him sadly.

"Just as planned," she said. Suddenly, she felt Buguese's hand on her shoulder, her body was pulled into his.

"Hmph!" said Buguese. "My enemy Hunter Steele. It seems you have feelings for him, don't you? But you can never have him."

"I…" Aqune started.

"I understand your sentiment, Aqune," said Buguese. "It seems I was right. I knew it would be a bad idea for you to return."

"I don't regret coming," said Aqune, now putting her arm around Buguese. "Now I don't feel so lost anymore."

Aqune still didn't have all the answers she wanted. She was confident of something though. When one being loves another, they'll want most of all to make them happy. This even held true if the individual knew that they'd just wind up hurt. That's why she wanted so much to heal Corona. That's why Buguese allowed her to be here now, even though it went against everything he stood for.

"Thank you," said Aqune, closing her eyes and accepting his embrace.


End file.
